Praytor



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. W. PRAYTOR.

GAR LOADER.

Patented Mar. 8, 1898.

(No Model.) Q 2 SheetsSI 1e et 2.

W. W. PRAYTOR.

GAR LOADER.

No. 600,448 Patented Mar. 8,1898.

UNTTED STATES PATENT UEEICE.

WILLIAM WVASIIINGTON PRAYTOR, OF MOUNT PLEASANT, TENNESSEE.

CAR-LOADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,448, dated March 8,1898. Application filed July 8, 1897. Serial No. 648,891. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WASHINGTON PRAYTOR, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Mount Pleasant, in the county of Maury and State ofTennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Loaders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in distributing devices which areto be used especially in distributing the load in the operation ofloading cars with granular or pul- Verulent material-such as grain,phosphate, and the like-and has for its object to provide an apparatusby means of which the material being loaded upon the car may bedistributed to the ends of the car from a chute which enters one of thedoors at the middle of the car, obviating the necessity of having one ormore men stationed within the car to distribute the material withshovels.

My invention will be understood by refereuce to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein the same parts are indicated by the same lettersthroughout the several views.

Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic view of my loading apparatus asapplied to a box-car, the latter being shown in horizontal section. Fig.2 represents an enlarged sectional view of the distributing-wheel, thesection being taken on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1 and looking in thedirection of the arrows. Fig. 3 represents an enlarged detail sectionalview taken on the line 3 3 in Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of thearrows. Fig. 4 represents a side view of the pivoted catch shown in Fig.3 as seen from above in said figure, and Fig. 5 is a detail view showingin side elevation the bracket for supporting the shaft of thepaddle-wheel within the car.

A represents a box-car of any well-known construction, the same beingprovided with doorways A A midway of its length, as in the usualconstruction.

B represents a platform of any suitable construction, having mountedthereon a pair of brackets 13 13, in which a shaft B is rotatablymounted. Pulleys B and B are keyed upon the shaft 13 and are heldadjacent to the brackets 13 13 in any suitable manner, so that the shaftmay slide therethrough without displacing the said pulleys.

B and B are two loose pulleys, upon either of which the correspondingbelt may be shifted without stopping the driving power.

0 and C represent two belts driven from any suitable source of power forrotating the shaft 13, the belt 0 being crossed.

As an additional support for the shaft B, I prefer to have avertically-adjustable bracket such as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, whichrests upon the floor of the car. This supporting bracket consists of ablock or sill H, having a pair of legs H H pivoted to its ends. Upon.

these legs are provided rack-bars h h, in which engage pivoted links h71.0 for holding the legs at the desired angle, but which allow thesupport to be raised or lowered by varying the inclination of the legs HH. The lower ends of the rack-bars h h terminate in sharpened points hh, which take in the floor of the car and prevent displacement of thesupport. A bearing-block H for the shaft B is mounted upon the sill H,and the said shaft is mounted thereon, as shown. The weight of thematerial being loaded as it falls upon the paddlewheel will thus betaken up by this supporting-bracket, and it will be seen that the saidbracket may be raised or lowered to suit cars of different heights byadjusting the pivoted legs H H as above described.

D represents a wheel which is provided with a solid hub D, preferably ofwood, rigidly mounted upon the end of the shaft B and with side disks Dand D the latter disk being of a somewhat greater diameter than theformer, as shown in Fig. 1. These two disks are rigidly attached uponthe ends of the hubcylinder D.

A plurality of blades E are pivotally connected at their inner edges tothe periphery of the hub-cylinderD',between the said disks, as shown inFig. 2, and have a limited swing about their pivotal points e, beingconfined within such limits by angle-irons F F, riveted or otherwisesecured to the inner sides of the disks D and D The blades E are held ineither of their extreme positions by means of spring-catches E, such asis shown in Figs. 3 and 4, wherein the catch E is shown as pivoted at orabout the middle of its length within a slot d in the disk D One end 6of this pivoted'catch is acted upon by a spring e mounted upon the-outerface of the disk, and the opposite end of the said catch is providedwith a protruding portion or lug 6 by means of which the said catch maybe sprung to release the blade. The inward swing of the arm 6 of thecatch is limited by a suitable stop, such as shown at e in Figs. 3 and4:.

When in use, the blades E should be turned and locked into abackwardly-sloping position, according to the direction of rotation ofthe wheel. Thus when the wheel is being rotated in the direction of thearrow, as shown in Fig. 2, theblades will be set to the positions shownin that figure, and when the wheel is rotated in the opposite directionthe blades should be set to the other extreme limit of their swing. Thereason for having the blades so pivoted that they may be adjusted asabove described is to allow of the rapid rotation of the wheel in eitherdirection desired and yet cause the material being loaded to be thrownofi from the blades of the wheel, the backward inclination of the saidblades in either instance preventing any portion of the material beingcarried around with the wheel through centripetal force, and it has beenfound in practice that the material is thrown to the extreme ends of thecar much better by giving the blades a slight backward inclination. I

The operation of the device is as follows: The car to be loaded is runup opposite the chute X, which is run into the door upon one side of thecar, and the shaft B is extended, carrying the paddle-wheel D into thedoor upon the opposite side of the car, the parts when ready foroperation being approximately in the position shown in Fig. 1, where thelower end of the chute is shown as extending slightly over and above thepaddlewheel D. The shaft B and the paddle-wheel are then rotated in thedesired direction by shifting the appropriate belt to its fast pulley,the blades upon the paddle-wheel having first been set to a backwardinclination, as above described. The grain, phosphate, or other materialis then allowed to run down the chute X and falls upon the paddle-wheelD as the latter rotates. This rotation of the wheel D will cause thematerial being loaded to be thrown off to one end of the car, so thatthe car will be filled from that end toward the middle, as will beobvious. The speed of rotation may be varied at will according to thenature of the material. When one end of the car has been loadedsufficiently, the driving-belt first used may be shifted to itsidle-pulley and the outer belt shifted from its idle-pulley to its fastpulley and the di rection of inclination of the bladesE reversed tocorrespond. The shaft and wheel will now be rotated in the oppositedirection and the material falling down the chute X will be thrown tothe previously empty end of the car and there stowed until the load iscomplete. When one car has been loaded, the

shaft B and the paddle-wheel D, as also the chute X, are withdrawn fromthe car, and the loaded car being moved away an empty car is run intoplace and filled as above described.

I do not wish to limit myself to the precise details of constructionherein described and shown, as many modifications thereof might be madewhich could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention.Thus any suitable arrangement of pulleys and belts for rotating theshaft B may be used, and any suitable form of catch may be used forholding the pivoted blades in position.

The disk upon the side of the paddle-wheel away from the chute shouldpreferably be somewhat larger than the other disk, as shown, in order toprevent the material running over the end of the paddle-wheel; but thisis not absolutely essential.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a distributing device of the character described, the combinationwith a shaft, and means for rotating said shaft; of awheel having aplurality of blades pivoted to the. hub thereof, and means for securingsaid blades in one of several possible adjusted positions, substantiallyas described.

2. In a distributing device of the character described, the combinationwith a horizontal shaft, and means for rotating said shaft; of a wheelfixed upon said shaft, and provided with end disks adapted to preventthe material being loaded thereby from falling off from the ends thereofand blades pivoted between said disks and having a limited range ofadjustment, substantially as described.

3. In a distributing device of the character described, the combinationwith a shaft and means for rotating said shaft; of a cylinder fixed uponsaid shaft; circular disks mounted upon the ends of said cylinder; aplurality of blades pivoted upon said cylinder; and means provided uponsaid disks for allowing a limited range of adjustment to said blades;substantially as described.

4. In a distributing device of the character described, the combinationwith a shaft and means for rotating said shaft; of a cylindrical hubfixed upon said shaft; a pair of disks fixed upon the ends of said hub;a plurality of blades pivoted upon said hub between said disks; stops onsaid disks allowing a limited swing to said blades; and catches adaptedto hold said blades, substantially as described.

5. In a distributing device of the character described, the combinationwith a shaft journaled in fixed bearings but being capable oflongitudinal as well as rotary movement, and

pulleys upon said shaft for driving the same in eitherof their extremepositions, substanin opposite directions; of a cylinder fixed tially asdescribed. 10

upon said shaft; a pair of disks mounted upon the ends of said cylinder;a plurality of blades pivoted upon said cylinder between said disks;angle-irons on said disks limiting the swing of said blades; andspring-actuated catches carried by said disks for holding said blades Intestimony whereof I affix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM WASHINGTON PRAYTOR. Witnesses:

L. 0. PICKARD, W. A. PULLIAN.

